In a questionnaire sub-mitted to University Dem-ocrats, Executive Alliance candidates Braydon Jones, government senior, and Kimia Dargahi, interna-tional relations and global studies senior, wrote a statement about LGBT rights that may have cost them an endorsement, ac-cording to UDems officers.

As part of a survey dis-tributed to all student government candidates, Jones, who is running for SG president, and Dar-gahi, who is running for vice president, said that they had certain concerns about providing domestic partner benefits to Univer-sity employees.

“Although we fully sup-port the LGBTQ commu-nity and encourage their partnerships, our biggest fear of providing domes-tic partner benefits is that some partners may take advantage and exploit that system,” the statement read. “There needs to be a standardized way to en-sure which domestic part-ners are closer to reach-ing the parameters of a civil union.”

UDems communica-tions director Ashley Al-cantara, international re-lations and global studies senior, said she felt Jones and Dargahi expressed undue suspicion about do-mestic partners in a way that was offensive.

Jones said he and Darga-hi submitted a correction to resubmit the specific statement after they no-ticed problems with their original statement.

“It was a mistake,” Jones said. “We’re not anti-LGBT … Kimia and I are any-thing but.”

Dargahi said their

The University is planning to offer a mas-ter’s degree in space entrepreneurship begin-ning in May.

The program will be a part of the larger Masters of Science in Technology Commer-cialization program, which began in 1996, according to program director Gary Caden-head. The space entrepreneurship degree, first announced earlier this semester, will be tailored directly to students who want to learn about combining space exploration and business management.

Cadenhead said he believes it is important to teach students how to both work with tech-nology and use it for profit.

“We felt it was important that we had a program that would train individuals to be able to identify space technology with the potential … to take them to market,” Caden-head said.

Cadenhead said recruitment efforts are ex-pected to begin in the near future in a joint effort with the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

“We will be sending out information about our program to the 400-plus companies in the U.S. that are in the new space industry,” Ca-denhead said. “We are supporting the Austin Chamber of Commerce, which is trying to re-cruit some of those 400 companies to either move to Austin or expand into Austin.”

Scott Hickle, mechanical engineering senior, said there is a difference in the space industry between “New Space,” which companies such as SpaceX and Virgin Galactic exemplify, and “Old Space,” which is comprised of more es-tablished companies such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

“It seems to me like the space entrepre-neurship program … is a program to feed into ‘New Space,’ whether that means

producing entrepreneurs or just ‘New Space’ leaders,” Hickle said.

Hickle said most people only remem-ber the scientific aspects of space ex-ploration when they think about space, but said the science is only one part of the equation.

“I want to promote space explora-tion in any and all ways possible, and a big part of space explora-tion is the business side of it, and people don’t really appreciate that,” Hickle said. “It’s not just a science or engineering proj-ect. Space really is as much a government and policy and business problem as it is an engineering problem.”

Hickle, a member of the Planetary Society, a nonprofit founded to pursue space ex-ploration, said Texas has the potential to push the space industry to new levels.

“Texas has always been huge pioneers in space and is going to continue to be,” Hickle said. “UT Austin’s role in it re-ally could grow in the coming years because we are in

The Senate Commit-tee on Nominations ques-tioned Gov. Greg Abbott’s three regent appointees for more than five hours about admissions, open records requests, and other issues that have prompted conflict in the UT System at a committee hearing Thursday.

Abbott’s first appoin-tees to the UT System

Board of Regents, Ste-ven Hicks, Sara Martinez Tucker and David Beck, appeared before the Senate Committee on Nominations as part of the confirmation process. Sen. Brian Bird-well (R-Granbury) asked the appointees questions regarding a report’s findings that UT President William Powers Jr. secured the ad-mission of a few applicants over the objection of the admissions office.

When asked about his opinion of the report, which

the UT System commis-sioned, Hicks defended UT Powers told the commit-tee members the president should have some discretion when looking at admissions.

“I don’t see how you could keep a current president from having some role in ad-missions,” Hicks said. “The admissions officer today reports to this president. I do know [UT System Chan-cellor William] McRaven is very active in this area, and

The Cockrell School of Engineering celebrated the groundbreaking of its new Engineering Educa-tion and Research Center on Thursday.

The 430,000 square-foot center, which will cost ap-proximately $310 million to construct, will be one of the largest structures ever constructed on campus and will include two con-

The Jack in the Box on Gua-dalupe Street closed its doors for the last time Sunday. Joe Sanchez, a manager at the Jack in the Box location on E. 41st Street said the restaurant was forced to close because of financial troubles.

Biology sophomore Edid-iong Umoh, who frequented the fast food chain to order her favorite chicken nug-gets, said the closing poses a

major inconvenience for the students who patronize the store regularly.

“[Jack in the Box] was very convenient; it’s right across the street, and, sometimes, the din-ing hall food can get boring, so it’s kind of an escape from that, and it’s cheap,” Umoh said. “It’s just more of a hassle for me.”

The Jack in the Box logos have been removed from the building, and the only rem-

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UNIVERSITY

Board questions regent nominees

Andy Nguyen | Daily Texan StaffThe Senate Committee on Nominations questioned Gov. Greg Abbott’s first three appointees to the UT System Board of Regents on Thursday morning.

By Eleanor Dearman & Josh Willis

@thedailytexan

REGENTS page 2

SYSTEM

UT to offer space entrepreneurship degree

SPACE page 3

CAMPUS

CAMPUS

SG candidates backtrack on LGBT benefit ambivalenceBy Samantha Ketterer

@sam_kett

LGBT page 2

Jack in the Box folds under financial strain

Cockrell holds groundbreaking ceremony

Andy NguenDaily Texan Staff

Celebration at-tendees cheer as the Cockrell School of Engi-neering broke ground on its new Engineer-ing Education and Research Center on Thursday after-noon.

By Josh Willis@joshwillis35

By Sebastian Herrera@SebasAHerrera

By Nashwa Bawab@nashwabawab

COCKRELL page 3 RESTAURANT page 2

Illustration by Melanie Westfall| Daily Texan Staff

Texas has always been huge pioneers in space and is going to continue to be.

—Scott Hickle, Mechanical engineering

senior

WEST CAMPUS

he’s going to ensure there are no irregularities in this admissions cycle.”

Hicks was also asked about the extent to which regents should have access to documents, alluding to the controversy surround-ing current regent Wal-lace Hall, who filed open records requests for thou-sands of documents regard-ing Powers’ presidency and other UT affairs in 2013.

“I would hope that trans-parency would be first and foremost in your minds,” committee member Konni Burton (R-Colleyville) said. “I would hope that you would not be an obstruc-tionist to someone that is trying to be transparent and accountable to the people of Texas.”

Hicks said he thinks

regents should have the right to documents and that policies should be implemented to handle large-scale public infor-mation requests within the System.

“I don’t think restriction is the right term; I think there has to be some practi-cality involved,” Hicks said. “If you’re requesting 2,000 documents, I think there has to be a reasonable set of guidelines.”

At the meeting, board members also questioned Martinez Tucker, who has previously voiced support for the common-core cur-riculum in certain states. Martinez Tucker said al-though she admires core curriculum, she is glad it is not implemented in the state.

“I am thrilled that we have the Texas essential knowledge and those stan-

dards,” Martinez Tucker said. “It is the state’s right to create standards. I will respect that, and I will live by that.”

When asked about tu-ition affordability at UT institutions, Beck said he wanted to emphasize that affordability was critical.

“I couldn’t afford to go to the University of Texas even back in the 1960s,” Beck said. “Affordability is very important to me and to say that somehow, [af-fordability is a negative], in the abstract — I don’t agree with that.”

Abbott announced his nominations Jan. 28, short-ly after being sworn in as governor. As current regent vice chairman, Hicks is the only appointee with prior regent experience, hav-ing been a board member since 2009.

the Silicon Valley of the South.”

Physics freshman Lil-ian Nguyen said she feels that many students stand to benefit from the space entrepreneurship pro-gram.

“I think it would be useful in terms of put-ting what you learn, mathematically, into the context of a busi-ness,” Nguyen said. “I wouldn’t be interested in it because I feel that sort of knowledge is better learned through experience more than just being taught in class. But I could see why other people would benefit from that — if they need that sort of direction.”

Hickle said UT has the potential to be-come a leader in the space industry.

“We really could see more Longhorn in-volvement in space,” Hickle said.

answer makes it seem they don’t want to give LGBT partners benefits, but she said that is not the case.

“The question in partic-ular was worded in a way that we could only answer about LGBTQ partners, and so we answered it in that way,” Dargahi said. “But the fact of the matter is, whether you are LB-GTQ or whether you are straight, you still have the possibility of doing some-thing wrong, of tamper-ing with that system. And that goes for anything — it could be marriage benefits; it could be welfare.”

SG representatives have consistently advocated for LBGT partner benefits for University employ-ees in the past, especially at Invest in Texas, an an-nual nonpartisan advocacy campaign at the Capitol.

Wednesday, University Democrats endorsed Plan II junior Xavier Rotnofsky and senior Rohit Mandala-pu, a campaign that Rot-nofsky and Mandalapu said began as a joke. Alcantara said Rotnofsky and Man-dalapu’s responses aligned

with the group’s ideals on every point, while the other Executive Alliance candidates had some re-sponses that were not as well-received.

“There were several questions for each of [the candidates] that we kind of cringed,” Alcantara said.

In the questionnaire response, Jones and Dar-gahi also commented on gender neutral bathrooms on campus.

“If the University budget and space allows for this, we are comfortable with gender neutral or unisex bathrooms on campus,” the questionnaire said. “Most of our housing on campus is gender neutral to begin with, so, when there is a larger university desire for increased hous-ing, we will definitely sup-port it to be gender neutral and accessible.”

Jones said he oversaw the Queer Students Alliance agency for Student Govern-ment for the 2013–2014 term. Both he and Dargahi said they are allies to the LGBT community, with values in line with UDems’ criteria.

“This is a huge slap in my face, and I want people to know that,” Jones said.

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Andy Nguyen | Daily Texan StaffJunior economics major Trung Nguyen watches a train pass by while skating at the Banister Ditch. The Banister Ditch is a popular skate spot featuring a quarterpipe located in South Austin.

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nected eight-story tow-ers. The groundbreaking ceremony for the center took place on its con-struction site, which is directly adjacent to the Cockrell School.

The center is one of the most important fa-cilities the University has constructed in decades, according to President William Powers Jr., who spoke at the ceremony.

“As we know, engi-neering is critical to the advancement of the state,” Powers said. “We need more engineers, and we need research in engineering, and this building will do both of those. Our facilities needed to reflect the 21st century.”

Having a world-class engineering school is crucial for a flagship university such as UT, according to UT Sys-tem Chancellor Wil-liam McRaven, who also spoke at the ceremony.

“We all know the field of engineering is inex-plicably linked to the economic success of Texas, and the Cockrell School is the epicenter

of engineering educa-tion,” McRaven said. “Maintaining the status quo is not good enough for this school.”

Detailed planning for the center began three years ago. Pow-ers said despite initial challenges in fundrais-ing, the project is cur-rently under-budget, and the University has raised $65 million for the center.

Powers said the cen-ter will have modern project rooms with open glass windows and fea-ture hubs for engineer-ing students to create and share ideas.

It will replace a 50-year-old Engineering-Science Building that was overdue for change, Cockrell School dean Sharon L. Wood said.

“Our facilities had not kept up with the technol-ogy,” Wood said. “It’s very

hard to attract excellent students and faculty, telling them that you’re doing cut-ting edge research, if your facilities can’t support it, so that’s why we’re so excited about it. It’s going to really showcase engineering.”

Wood said the center will allow the Cockrell School to increase en-rollment by 1,000 stu-dents, from its current enrollment of roughly 7,700 students.

The old Engineering Science Building strong-ly lacked basic modern resources, such as elec-trical outlets in study locations, according to Anuj Kudva, biomedical engineering senior and Student Engineering Council president.

“It was ironic in the sense that there was world-class research go-ing on there, yet it was more than 40 years out-of-date,” Kudva said.

One week before Rodney Reed’s scheduled execution, stu-dents and community members gathered on the steps of the Tow-er to hold a vigil for Reed and to protest Texas’ judicial system.

Reed was convicted of mur-dering Stacey Stiles on the morning of April 23, 1996. The state claims Reed raped and murdered Stiles. Reed’s attorney said new evidence, which includes a testimony and forensic evidence, proves Stiles was killed, and her body was moved hours earlier than originally thought.

Reed’s original execution date was March 5, until the Texas Court of Criminal Ap-peals issued a stay of execution Monday. The stay gives Reed’s attorney time to present new evidence to the court.

Roderick Reed, brother of the accused, said the justice sys-tem is broken and functioning in a racially-motivated arena.

“The justice system should be blind,” Roderick said. “It should

be given freely and fairly to ev-erybody. I thought living in the United States of America — I thought that’s what we stood upon, but, apparently here in this case, we have not seen those things, and we will not rest until we see those things … We have the truth on our side and it will

be seen, and it will be heard.” Ana Hernandez, Latin

American studies and history senior and the vice president of UT’s Amnesty International student chapter, said the vigil is meant to raise awareness for everyone on death row.

“We have to remember that

Rodney Reed isn’t the only in-nocent person on death row and certainly isn’t the only per-son on death row,” Hernandez said. “We really ought to be able to think about all people on death row and [remember] all people who have been killed on death row — particularly

people who were later proven innocent and were wrongfully killed by the state.”

The jury that convicted Reed during the initial trial was com-posed of all-white members. Advocates for Reed say DNA tests were conducted unfairly and incorrectly.

To better understand the threat ISIS poses, a UT professor and guest lecturer explained how they believe United States action during the Persian Gulf War contributed to the formation and spread of the terrorist group.

ISIS, also known as the Islamic State, is an extrem-ist terrorist group that con-trols territory in Iraq and Syria and has a presence in other areas of the Middle East. The group adheres to a medieval ideology, and the beheadings it regularly carries out often go viral on social media after pro-motion on ISIS-operated Twitter accounts.

Journalism professor Robert Jensen opened the discussion with a reading from the Bible verses in Matthew 7:1–5, which are about having a plank in one’s eye. Jensen said this concept is important to recognize hypocrisy inher-ent in United States mili-tary involvement in Iraq. Jensen referred to what he calls the crucial point in the Persian Gulf War his-tory in 1990 and 1991.

“In 1990, [the history] got very clear,” Jensen said. “The regime of Sadam Hussein invaded Kuwait. The United States secured a resolution to authorize the use of force. In 1991, the U.S. drove out the Iraq force, but there are ques-tions about whether coali-tion forces engaged in war crimes when firing on re-treating Iraqi troops.”

Jensen said there are clear records of U.S. mili-tary leveling much of the infrastructure within Iraq.

According to Jensen, the U.S. military used force against the civilian population, which tech-nically constitutes as a war crime.

“If a civilian’s infra-structure is decimated, that means the popula-tion is suffering, and you can exert more power,” Jensen said.

Jensen said further is-sues were fueled by the Middle East’s oil, which greatly complicated the politics of the situation.

Harris Zafar, a guest lec-turer and author of “De-mystifying Islam,” said the group’s actions do not show the true values of Islam.

“Some will make this a religious matter that those joining ISIS are deeply re-ligious,” Zafar said. “Can a group whose primary tool is chaos, destruction, dis-order, mayhem be inherent of Islam?”

Sarah Khan, a reli-gious studies and govern-ment sophomore, said she appreciated the dis-cussion because of her own background.

“My dad is Muslim … he wants to lay low and not run into trouble,” Khan said. “My main thing [is looking for] a solution for Islamophobia … Through moving forward in this problem, there are solu-tions, but we have to be willing to come together.”

dards,” Martinez Tucker said. “It is the state’s right to create standards. I will respect that, and I will live by that.”

When asked about tu-ition affordability at UT institutions, Beck said he wanted to emphasize that affordability was critical.

“I couldn’t afford to go to the University of Texas even back in the 1960s,” Beck said. “Affordability is very important to me and to say that somehow, [af-fordability is a negative], in the abstract — I don’t agree with that.”

Abbott announced his nominations Jan. 28, short-ly after being sworn in as governor. As current regent vice chairman, Hicks is the only appointee with prior regent experience, hav-ing been a board member since 2009.

nants of the restaurant is a sign on the door that reads, “This location has been closed. You are more than welcome to visit our nearest location on 100 E. 41st. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Nutrition assistant pro-fessor Jamie Davis said she hopes the closing of Jack in the Box will change students’ eating habits for the better.

“I think that if you can

change the built environ-ment, then you can cer-tainly improve people’s food choices, so, in my opinion, it’s a step in the right direc-tion,” Davis said.

Fast food restaurants such as Jack in the Box push combo meals to its custom-ers, which can contain any-where from 1,000 to 1,200 calories, Davis said.

“The actual ability to choose a low-calorie, kind of healthier meal is limited at Jack in the Box,” Davis said. “It just gives college students another chance

to over-consume and get extra total fat and extra sugar.”

Umoh said she thinks the loss of Jack in the Box may encourage her to add more variety to her diet.

“If you’re obsessed with one thing like I am, then it can become a routine, may-be, so I guess you should look at the positive,” Umoh said. “I guess this is an op-portunity to go out and try new things. I’ll probably go to Whataburger down the street, or I might just eat at the dining halls.”

The Austin City Council is working to block the con-struction of a strip club on Fifth Street and Congress Av-enue by voting to amend the city code.

The Austin City Coun-cil voted Thursday to be-gin amending City Code to mandate that “adult-oriented businesses” must be at least 1,000 feet away from cultural services, such as museums or libraries. Current city code only requires a 1,000 feet dis-tance from day cares, schools, churches, parks and other adult-oriented businesses.

Behzad Bahrami, who owns MB & MS Enterprises Inc., filed a site plan applica-tion in December to build a strip club on Congress, near the Texas Capitol. Jerry Rusthoven, a staff member in the City Planning Depart-ment, said strip clubs fall un-der the definition of “adult-oriented businesses.”

“The city has specific kinds [of adult-oriented business-es],” Rusthoven said. “Most of them don’t exist anymore because of frankly, the In-ternet, but we have different adult-oriented businesses — an adult theater, adult novelty shop, adult lounge … Most have gone away but we still have adult lounges, [which are] strip clubs.”

Rusthoven said the City Planning Department is cur-rently reviewing Bahrami’s application to see if his pro-posed club would fit all the required criteria to operate as an adult lounge. Under cur-rent city code, adult lounges are allowed to operate so long as they meet all crite-ria, but the Council plans to amend city code to only allow them to operate with the direct approval of the Planning Commission.

Rusthoven said the City Planning Department is in the process of reviewing Bah-rami’s application, and said he does not know if it will be approved before code amend-ments are put in place.

“If the [strip club] on Congress opens before the code changes, they would be grandfather-ed in,” Rusthoven said. “The question is whether the code gets changed before this application for the strip club on Congress gets ap-proved. If the code changes before the plan is approved, the question is, ‘Would this one still be approved?’ And that’s something that I’d work on with our legal team.”

Randell Salinas, interna-tional relations and global studies senior, said he thinks the Council’s concerns re-garding the potential strip club’s proximity to a museum — specifically, the Mexic-Arte Museum — are unwarranted.

“I understand the museum and kids going to the museum,” Salinas said. “The kids aren’t go-ing to know what that is. They’re just going to think it’s another bar or club or establishment in the downtown area.”

Molecular biology senior Shane Ali said he thinks the potential of a strip club would significantly change the at-mosphere on Congress.

“You’d have people seeking this adult measure,” Ali said. “In that sense, it would be a lot more hyped up. It would also be a distraction for other businesses, because they’d lose a lot of business. It would be tough for businesses, espe-cially independent bars.”

Ali said he believes a strip club close to Sixth Street would draw a larger crowd to Congress Avenue.

“Once they’re sufficiently buzzed, they want to go to something exciting,” Ali said. “A strip club in prox-imity would be exciting. People go to Yellow Rose and all that, but what’s stop-ping them is paying for a ride there. And this would be walking distance.”

RESTAURANTcontinues from page 1

W&N 3

NEWS Friday, February 27, 2015 3

UT holds vigil for death row inmateSTATE CITY

City Council attempts to block new strip club

By Jackie Wang@jcqlnwang

RESEARCH

Michael Baez | Daily Texan StafHarris Zafar, author of “Demystifying Islam,” spoke Thursday night at the #StoptheCrISIS event held in Welch Hall.

Visiting lecturer, UT professor discuss ISIS

COCKRELLcontinues from page 1

Former grad student Gene Vela stands trial

More than a year after a standoff with Austin police, Gene Vela, a for-mer public affairs gradu-ate student, stood trial this week for two charges of aggravated assault on a public servant.

Vela was taken into custody in November 2013 after an armed con-frontation with multiple Austin police officers. His attorney is trying to con-vince jurors that police did not correctly iden-tify themselves before at-tempting to contact Vela.

According to the police affidavit, police officers shot Vela after he aimed a handgun equipped with

a laser at two policemen through his apartment window in North Cam-pus. Police were original-ly called to the apartment following a 911 call from a friend of Vela’s.

Responding officers and one medic testified in court Thursday about the circumstances sur-rounding the shooting. According to a recorded 911 call, Vela was told the individuals outside his home were police, but Vela’s attorney, Edu-mund Davis, said that because Vela was being treated for post-trau-matic stress disorder, he was unable to process the information correctly.

Vela is a Marine Corps

veteran who served in Iraq in 2002.

Court records show Vela has had several conflicts with Aus-tin police, including one incident of driving while intoxicated.

According to the Tra-vis County Criminal Court docket, Vela faces four charges total, in-cluding one charge of unlawful carrying of a weapon, two charges of aggravated assault against a public ser-vant and one charge of terroristic threat.

Vela’s trial contin-ues Friday at the Travis County Courthouse.

—Wynne Davis

NEWS BRIEFLY

By Matthew Adams@MatthewAdams60

Carlo NasisseDaily Texan Staff

Roderick Reed speaks at a vigil held in honor of his brother, Rodney, on the Main Mall on Thursday evening. Rod-ney, a death row inmate originally convicted of murdering Stacey Stiles in 1996, had his execution date stayed by the Texas Court of Crim-inal Appeals on Monday.

By Samantha Ketterer, Wynne Davis & Eleanor

Dearman@thedailytexan

Some will make this a religious matter that those joining ISIS are deeply religious. Can a group whose primary tool is chaos, destruction, disorder, mayhem, be inherent of Islam?

—Harris Zafar, Guest lecturer and author of

“Demystifying Islam”As we know, engineering is critical to the advancement of the state. We need more engineers, and we need research in engineering, and this building will do both of those.

—William Powers Jr., UT President

Editor’s Note: We have found the real McKay.I wish someone else were reading this. That’s

not because I don’t like you, quite the opposite. I admire that you are here, but that’s just it, you’re already here.

You sought this piece out. You’re reading this because you care about the welfare of your cam-pus. You see The Daily Texan as a valuable way to take the pulse of our little microcosm of the world. I don’t mean to say I don’t want you to read this but I wish someone who doesn’t usually look at the Texan gave it a chance today.

I wish that person would stumble on this pa-per for once, see the passion of the writers, feel the combination of journalistic talent and fresh perspectives, marvel at the quality at their finger-tips, and — after all of that — find my little cor-ner here. I want to talk to that person about what they saw in these pages and pixels. I want them to talk to me about the brilliance here already and the greatness that could be.

The best version of this outlet, and our whole student media footprint at this university, is still out there. Between the storied tradition of each source and the progressive ideas out in the

student body, the constant consumers and the part-time fans and the people who have never listened or read or watched.

At their best, our student media presence is in dialogue with its history and future at once. KVRX throws an hour of Texas country against a show of video game scores and dares the lis-tener to find a station-wide identity beyond that eclecticism.

The Daily Texan was the leading voice for de-segregation of campus decades ago and a forum for the President of IFC and members of minor-ity groups on campus to have a healthy conversa-tion about their disconnect a week ago. Our stu-dent-produced pages and airwaves should reflect our community as a whole. While we are doing a good job as it stands, we can never realize that goal unless more people join the conversation.

The responsibility to seek that better version of our media presence falls to both consumers and management. Obviously editors and managers and producers understand their role, but the au-dience and the manager’s manager need to come to terms with their place in that process. That’s where I can help.

If elected to the Texas Student Media Board, I want to work toward that understanding. The board needs to pursue the dueling goals of pre-serving these institutions and pushing them to-ward greatness. I want to be a part of that process. I want to take part in guiding these outlets into a creative renaissance while financially ensuring their welfare.

In an ideal world, 50,000 or more people would be engaged with these media. I dream of a Texan media big tent with breadth of perspec-tives and consumption. At the same time, that size should not hinder us in pushing on to a bet-ter tomorrow. I take back what I said, I’m glad you’re not someone else. I just wish you brought more friends.

Proctor is an English and business honors senior from Nashville. He is running for an at-large seat on the Texas Student Media Board of Operating Trustees.

4RILEY BRANDS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / @TexanEditorialFriday, February 27, 2015

LEGALESE | Opinions expressed in The Daily Texan are those of the editor, the Editorial Board or the writer of the article. They are not necessarily those of the UT administration, the Board of Regents or the Texas Student Media Board of Operating Trustees.

SUBMIT A FIRING LINE OR GUEST COLUMN | E-mail your Firing Lines and guest columns to editor@dailytexa-nonline.com. Letters must be between 100 and 300 words and guest columns between 500 and 1,000. The Texan reserves the right to edit all submissions for brevity, clarity and liability.

RECYCLE | Please recycle this copy of The Daily Texan. Place the paper in one of the recycling bins on campus or back in the burnt-orange newsstand where you found it.EDITORIAL TWITTER | Follow The Daily Texan Editorial Board on Twitter (@TexanEditorial) and receive updates on our latest editorials and columns.

RACE FOR EDITOR

By David Davis Jr.Editor-in-Chief Candidate

@daveedalon

By Claire SmithEditor-in-Chief Candidate

@claireseysmith

Texan Editor-in-Chief candidates have their sayEditor’s Note: This year two candidates are running for editor-in-chief of The Daily Texan in the campus-wide elections. The editor of the Texan, elected by the entire student body, has three primary

responsibilities: 1) to oversee the paper’s opinion content, 2) to set policy for the paper and 3) to serve as the paper’s representative to the campus community and beyond. Per the TSM election code, the candidates, David Davis Jr. and Claire Smith, have been asked to write two 500-word columns. The second column focuses on a topic of the candidate’s choosing relating to their campaign. Candidates

wrote their own headlines. Only light typographical corrections were made. The order of the columns, from left to right, was determined by the ballot positions drawn at the candidate seminar held Feb. 17. For more information on the candidates, please visit our candidate database at www.dailytexanonline.com.

Editor-in-Chief must use position for more than empty complaining

Inclusiveness is the key to a vital Daily Texan

When I first tried out for The Daily Texan, I did not feel confident in being hired because my personal beliefs did not match the viewpoint of-ten expressed in the Texan in past years.

Soon after I was hired, I wrote a column about the difficulty in starting a national dialogue about race in the wake of rioting in Ferguson, Missouri.  It was a challenging column because there are many people who know the issue more personally and more acutely than I do.

Although called upon to express my opinion, I worried that it would not be valued because my personal experience is less direct. Whether on Ferguson or any other burning issue, I believe many students on campus feel the same way   -- our opinions on the important issues of our day and on the issues most important to our campus aren’t worthy of expression in our own student newspaper.  That’s why I’m running for editor-in-chief. If I am elected, I will do everything in my power to build an inclusive opinion page that opens the door to the broad diversity of opinion on campus.  I want you to be heard.

Inclusiveness means opening the editorial door to all thoughtfully considered, well-ex-pressed opinions. We don’t have to look too far in the news to find things that will affect people on campus. And UT students ought to be heard on those issues. We don’t share a two-dimen-sional campus either. There are more opinions

than those that come only from the right or from the left.  Those opinions deserve to be expressed too. I will fight to make sure that all legitimate opinions get a fair hearing without entertaining expressions of hate or uninformed vitriol.

To me, inclusiveness means growth.   A vi-brant opinion page encourages the expression of different and competing viewpoints. Too of-ten editorial pages are slanted and biased, and the Texan has been guilty of that in the past. On my watch, the opinion page will be an open forum where ideas can be debated, the diver-sity of campus opinion can be expressed, and consensus opinions can be challenged and de-fended.

There are people on campus who don’t want the opinion page to be more inclusive. They’re satisfied in “safe” expressions of opinion, prefer-ably their own.  But we are better than that.

We shouldn’t be afraid of ideas. Our ideas are what make The Daily Texan matter. The free ex-pression of those ideas opens our understand-ing of ourselves, our community and our world. That is worth protecting and celebrating.

My editorship will be dedicated to en-suring all the diversity of opinion on our campus can be expressed in our student newspaper, because it’s our newspaper. My opinion page will be inclusive.   It will em-power students to thoughtfully express their own beliefs, to challenge other beliefs, and to grow.  Our University exists for all of us, and so must The Daily Texan.

As editor-in-chief, I will be your advo-cate, fight for your voice, and make this your Daily Texan.

Smith is a history and humanities junior from Austin. She is running for editor-in-chief of The Daily Texan.

RACE FOR THE TSM BOARD

TSM Board candidates have their sayEditor’s Note: This year four candidates are running for three available voting seats on the Texas Student Media Board of Operating Trustees, which oversees The Daily Texan, the Cactus yearbook, the

Texas Travesty humor publication, Texas Student Television and the KVRX 91.7 FM radio station. Three candidates are running for the two at-large seats and one student for the one open Moody College of Communication seat. Candidates were asked shortly after their certification to write two 500-word columns. The second column focuses on a topic of the candidate’s choosing relating to their campaign.

Candidates who participated wrote their own headlines. Only light typographical corrections were made. The order of the columns, from left to right, was determined by the ballot positions drawn at the candidate seminar held Feb. 17. Among the at-large candidates, the top two vote-getters will be seated. Jan Ross Piedad, the Moody College of Communication candidate, has written a column that is running

online. She agreed to forgo print space. For more information on the candidates, please visit our candidate database at www.dailytexanonline.com.

Tell your friends Board position will protect the interests of a community

By Amil MalikTSM At-Large Board Candidate

By McKay ProctorTSM At-Large Board Candidate

My first contact with the Texas Student Media Board of Trustees occurred about two and a half years ago. Susannah Jacob, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Texan at the time, had encouraged me to attend what she thought would be a “historic board meeting.”

During the meeting the TSM Board would discuss — and vote on — cutting the print media publications TSM oversaw. The drastic move came because for the first time in its one hundred twelve year history, The Daily Texan and its peer publications faced a six-figure budget deficit — a lingering effect of years of declining print advertising revenue.

So, thanks to Susannah’s encouragement, around 2:30 p.m. that Friday I trudged from my class across campus to the FAC where the board meeting was in full swing.

As I entered and walked up to the third floor, I realized that the room to which I was headed was packed — full beyond capacity. A police officer stood at the door to keep people from entering and violating the room’s fire safety code.

I was stunned by the turnout, to say the least. Suddenly hesitant, I decided to linger in the hallway for a moment, thinking: Should I enter? Do I even belong here? What if the officer turns me away?

Thankfully, I decided that since I had walked all the way across campus in the blaz-ing heat to attend this meeting, I would en-ter that room. No officer would stop me. So I did. I mustered my courage, pretended as though I knew exactly what I was doing, and

waltzed right in. I’m so glad I did. I opened the door to face some of the most

impassioned students and alumni I had seen. These people had taken time out of their day — and for some their jobs — to defend The Daily Texan, Texas Travesty and Cactus Year-book. They had come to save the voice of the students. They had come to keep print jour-nalism alive.

Thanks to their efforts, the Texan endured on that day as it has continued to do so in many board meetings since then. It’s only be-cause of their effort and dedication — that of the hundreds of students who work at Cac-tus Yearbook, Texas Travesty, Texas Student TV, KVRX 91.7 FM and The Daily Texan — that the publications have endured. It’s these publications and these student interests that I will protect as a voting board member.

A university as large, important and his-toric as UT needs a strong, independent stu-dent newspaper as much as it needs Student Government or Senate or college wide coun-cils. It needs KVRX. It needs TSTV. It needs the Cactus, and it needs the Travesty. These publications in turn need representatives on the board that will protect them and the in-terests of the students who run them.

In 1955, Daily Texan Editor Willie Morris wrote, “The Daily Texan is bigger than any one man … Protect it and its traditions [and] you will see your life here in much nobler focus.” He might as well have been talking about all five TSM publications — five pub-lications whose publications and traditions I will protect on the TSM Board.

Vote Amil Malik for TSM Board at-large on March 4 and 5.

Malik is a business honors and finance se-nior from Austin. She is running for an at-large seat on the Texas Student Media Board of Operating Trustees.

Student journalists are enamored with controversy, whether real or invented, and opinion journalists tend to have unmatched skill in complaining. Put the two together, and you could get a publication, as recent events have shown, that annoyingly cavils about the scandals that it creates. I am run-ning for editor-in-chief of The Daily Texan because I believe the opinion page should serve a new and different purpose — creat-ing real social change on our campus.

Each year, with a different editor, there are rarely shifts from the perennial com-plaints about Greek life or about political-ly incorrect statements someone of promi-nence has made. I would say that opinion at the Texan has done well in being the “nice police,” adopting viewpoints that are sure not to agitate the masses. But I am ready to lead a new opinion department that is not afraid to challenge popular be-liefs or opinions on an issue.

The practice of targeting groups for criti-cism has made the Texan many enemies that should not feel ostracized by a publica-tion that ostensibly represents the student voice. During my time at the Texan, I have offered audacious commentary on a num-ber of issues, but I have always remained fair. As editor, I would significantly expand

the scope of the opinion page’s coverage and viewpoints as to have a heterogeneous group of opinions. I will actively pursue writers who represent different interests on campus so that opinion at The Daily Texan is informative and relevant to a wider va-riety of Longhorns. Additionally, including various perspectives of campus life makes a more exciting publication.

Just as other elected student representa-tives, The Daily Texan editor-in-chief has the responsibility to effect real change on campus.

If elected editor of The Daily Texan, I will promote activism in journalism. Con-stantly criticizing bad behavior does not get anything accomplished. The opinion page should offer well-reported commen-tary on salient issues in order to impassion students to act and create change on the 40 Acres.

The most important job of the editor-in-chief of The Daily Texan is writing opinion.

The next editor of the Texan should be diligent enough to seek out all sides of an issue. The next editor should also be bold enough to offer strong, detailed opinions and create an opinion page students cannot wait to read. I am the best person to lead a new Texan that doesn’t just gripe about fraternity party themes, rowdy regents and any modicum of conservative political thought. We need a newspaper that repre-sents all of UT and turns words on a page into positive actions on our campus.

Vote David Davis Jr. for editor-in-chief !Davis is an international relations and

French junior from Houston. He is running for editor-in-chief of The Daily Texan.

You sought this piece out ... You see The Daily Texan as a valuable way to take the pulse of our little microcosm of the world.

Gaye’s father fatally shot Gaye at age 44. Gaye’s popu-larity has only grown since his untimely death. His

estate currently earns over $3.5 million per year.

Boasting the talents of Dr. Dre, 2Pac and E-40, the West Coast dominated the rap battle of the early 1990s. No one on the East Coast could

hold a candle to West Coast rap — but Nas set out to change this.

New York rapper Nasir Jones incorporated flow and lyricism into his mu-sic. As one of the first truly

poetic rappers, Nas com-bined free style and meta-phoric thinking. While rap-pers such as Jay-Z were literal about their messages, Nas forced listeners to interpret his lyrics.

“His sense of rhythm is very tight,” Carson said. “Since he can rap so rhyth-mically, he was able to aban-don the stuff that other rap-pers were doing.”

Nas’ content was ground-

breaking. The urban rep-resentation he presented highly contrasted the laid-back style of West Coast rap; it commanded people to listen to a more worldly view.

audience to confront the slaves’ suffering.

“12 Years” is not only a fantastic historical film, but also a resonant, emotional masterpiece.

42“42” is a well-made trib-

ute to legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson

(Chadwick Boseman), who broke the baseball color bar-rier in 1947 by joining the Brooklyn Dodgers as the first African- American in Major League Baseball. The char-ismatic Boseman grasps au-diences’ attention from the get-go and effortlessly carries the rest of the film. Harri-son Ford and Nicole Beharie also appear in memorable supporting roles. Director Brian Helge-

land recreates Robinson’s struggles against racist base-ball players and fans with scenes where Robinson en-dures racial slurs and physi-cal assaults. Robinson learns that playing well is the most effective method of silencing his attackers.

“42” teaches lessons in resil-ience and grace under fire.

The Great DebatersDenzel Washington directs

and stars in “The Great Debat-ers,” a film about black college debate students in the 1930s Jim Crow South. Washington plays the team’s coach, poet Melvin B. Tolson, who leads them to become some of the best debaters in the nation.

While the film is geared toward a younger audience, it does not shy away from dark moments. In one scene, Tol-son and his students stumble upon the lynching of a black

man. The debaters’ journey is fraught with peril, which makes their success all the more inspiring.

“The Great Debaters” imparts that educating fu-ture generations is one critical element in the fight eradicate racism.

Malcolm XDirector Spike Lee does

Malcolm X’s life justice in this moving biopic. Denzel

Washington’s performance as a titular character is natural and honest. The film focuses on how Malcolm X dealt with family, friends and his Muslim faith, while illustrat-ing how these forces trans-formed him from a misguided criminal into a forceful civil rights activist.

Lee works hard to place the audience in Malcolm X’s shoes and helps the audience under-stand X’s mind-set.

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CLASSIFIEDSADVERTISING TERMS There are no refunds or credits. In the event of errors made in advertisement, notice must be given by 10 am the fi rst day of publication, as the publishers are responsible for only ONE incorrect insertion. In consideration of The Daily Texan’s acceptance of advertising copy for publication, the agency and the advertiser will indemnify and save harmless, Texas Student Media and its offi cers, employees and agents against all loss, liability, damage and expense of whatsoever nature arising out of the copying, print-ing or publishing of its advertisement including without limitation reasonable attorney’s fees resulting from claims of suits for libel, violation of right of privacy, plagiarism and copyright and trademark infringement. All ad copy must be approved by the newspaper which reserves the right to request changes, reject or properly classify an ad. The advertiser, and not the newspaper, is responsible for the truthful content of the ad. Advertising is also subject to credit approval.

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LIFE&ARTS Friday, February 27, 2015 5

FILM

For years, newspaper col-umns and the icons who wrote them were the go-to source for traditional film critiques. These historic me-diums are important in the history of movie criticism, but a new generation of crit-ics have emerged. They uti-lize video websites such as YouTube to share their love of films. Although these new critics offer big personalities and excellent comedy, it’s questionable whether their views on cinema count as au-thentic criticism in the style of major players such as the late Roger Ebert.

Although they attract their fair share of dismissive crit-ics, internet movie reviewers have the numbers to prove their content impacts the film community. Doug Walker’s YouTube channel, “League of Super Critics,” has over half a million subscribers. Red Let-ter Media, a film production company that reviews films and creates original content, has nearly a quarter million.

Walker, better known as “The Nostalgia Critic,” is popular for his half-hour “reviews” of bad films, such

as 2008’s “Mamma Mia” or the reviled 2010 adaptation “The Last Airbender.” Each of his biweekly reviews, posted on both Blip and YouTube, is peppered with insightful analyses, comedic skits and occasional special guests.

Red Letter Media, meanwhile, hosts two sepa-rate web shows on YouTube dedicated to critiquing films.

These new critics use their outgoing personalities to find a niche with internet audi-ences. Radio-television-film sophomore Brandt Taylor said that the reviewers’ iden-tities, rather than the reviews themselves, are what people come back for.

“Some critics have things that they’re known for, like Nostalgia Critic watches things that people grew up with,” Taylor said. “It’s about creating content [viewers] enjoy and showing their per-sonality in their reviews.”

Although sociology and Plan II senior Paul Palmer said these internet critics are funny and entertaining, he questions whether their work counts as authentic film criticism.

“Being on YouTube doesn’t disqualify someone from be-ing a good film critic,” Palmer

said. “While deviation from [a traditional platform] is not a bad thing, picking some-thing to rag on mercilessly, while funny and entertaining, isn’t competent criticism.”

Palmer said he worried that critics such as Walker focus too much on critiquing universally loathed movies and said the end result comes off as “grating and negative.”

Accounting sophomore Justin Hutchinson said he be-lieves these YouTube critics

tend to focus on entertaining an audience rather than their own critique, although he says some successfully blend the two styles.

“The big issue is having a unique voice,” Hutchinson said. “The secret to it all is being able to put the critic’s own self out there but not elevate it beyond the work itself. It’s a difficult balance to have.”

Hutchinson said in his opinion, Red Letter Media

is able to incorporate the voices of the reviewers while still providing commentary about films. He said founders Mike Stoklasa and Jay Bau-man make sure to never put their outgoing personalities above their actual critiques of the movies.

“Mike and Jay are very individual and bring their own senses of humor and perspectives to their work,” Hutchinson said. “A lot of reviewers are keen to make

their jokes rather than actu-ally offer any interesting in-put on the film itself.”

Although it’s unclear if YouTube critics always pro-duce actual film criticism, there is little doubt that they have found a popular method to share their views on cinema.

“Reviews are going to-wards the video aspect,” Taylor said. “People seem to want to watch things more than read things.”

MUSICIANScontinues from page 8

FILMScontinues from page 8

By Alex Pelham@TalkingofPelham

Courtesy of Red Letter Media

Jay Bauman (left) and Mike Stoklasa (right) debate the merits of a cou-ple of summer blockbusters in an episode of “Half in the Bag.” The show is one of many featured on Red Letter Media.

YouTube film critics juggle personal brand, reviews

Name: CROSSWORD; Width: 29p6; Depth: 5.5 in; Color: Black, CROSSWORD; Ad Number: -

6 SPTS

6 Friday, February 27, 2015 COMICS

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Things were a lot differ-ent for Texas the first time it played Kansas late last month.

The Longhorns were 14–4, fresh off a blowout victory over TCU that pushed them to 3–2 against the Big 12. Sophomore point guard Isa-iah Taylor was back from the broken left wrist that caused him to miss 10 games; junior center Cameron Ridley was playing his best basketball of the season; in the midst of a two-game win streak, the Longhorns appeared poised to make a run at the top spot in the conference.

Leading by as many as five points with under 14 minutes remaining in the second half, the Longhorns looked in con-trol against the Jayhawks. But it’s been a far different story ever since.

The Longhorns scuffled in those final 14 minutes against Jayhawks, scoring just 18 points to Kansas’ 36. They failed to rebound after that loss, dropping their next three, and, after a three-game win streak over the Big 12’s bottom feeders, they dropped three more in a row to fall to 6–9 in conference play — good for just eighth place in the Big 12, where they stand now.

With 17 wins on the season and just three regular sea-son games remaining on the schedule, the Longhorns are

firmly on the bubble for the NCAA tournament, so every game is crucial. Unfortunate-ly for the Longhorns, Texas plays Kansas again Saturday — this time at Allen Field-house in Lawrence, Kansas, perhaps the toughest road venue in all of sports.

The Jayhawks are a perfect 13–0 at home this season, and they haven’t lost there since early last year, when

San Diego State snapped the Jayhawks’ 68-game home win streak against non-conference foes. They’ve won 22 straight home games since.

A road win would pro-vide the Longhorns with the signature win they’ve been searching for this season. They played close with Kan-sas in Austin last month, but the Jayhawks are a different team in front of their home

fans, and this is a vital game for Kansas too.

The Jayhawks, who have won at least a share of the Big 12 for a 10th consecutive sea-son, are 11–4 this season in conference play. Iowa State, Oklahoma and West Virginia sit just one game back of Kan-sas with three to play. While the Jayhawks control their own destiny, losing against Texas would complicate their

road to an 11th consecutive Big 12 title.

The Longhorns’ once-promising season has plum-meted since those final 14 minutes against Kansas back in Austin last month. They have a chance turn things back around this Saturday and keep their NCAA tour-nament hopes alive, but, at Allen Fieldhouse, it figures to be anything but easy.

After an up-and-down three weeks, Texas softball returns home this weekend for the Texas Invitational.

The No. 25 Longhorns (9–6), who play five games over three days against Dartmouth, Texas South-ern and Lamar, will look to make improvements in both pitching and defense.

“We’ve made some good progress in three weeks,” head coach Connie Clark said. “The pitchers have been up and down, but I re-ally like the strides they’ve made. Defensively, we’re still searching a little bit with the infield. The outfield is tremendous.”

Minimizing defensive errors is one of the big-gest things Texas expects to work on. Two big errors in the 4–3 loss to Missouri last Friday cost the Long-horns a game it should have won, Clark said. Texas has committed 22 errors so far

this season.Most of the mistakes have

come from the infield. Clark has scrambled the players around in infield positions to try and find the best fit and said she will continue to do so this weekend.

“We can put anyone on the field, and the chemis-try’s there, and I think that’s important,” sophomore in-fielder Kelli Hanzel said. “If the chemistry’s there, then the plays will come.”

Although the pitching hasn’t been quite as con-sistent as Clark wants, the Longhorn hurlers have seen at least some success.

As a staff, the Texas pitch-ers have a 3.14 ERA and have given up 62 runs on 96 hits. Freshman pitcher Erica Wright anchors the staff with a 3–3 record and 1.89 ERA.

Texas pitchers shut out No. 8 Georgia and held No. 14 UCLA to eight hits be-fore giving up 17 runs in the following three games in California last weekend.

“It doesn’t matter if we’re playing a team that just threw themselves together, or we’re playing the num-ber one ranked team in the country; you can’t issue free passes,” Clark said. “You have to attack the strike

zone and try to induce what you want to happen.”

Texas’ attack mind-set is starting to sink in, and the Longhorns are focused on starting every game strong.

Junior first baseman Hol-ly Kern said she believes

this weekend is about finding something the team can work on and making adjustments.

“We want to win every game, but we also want to learn from mistakes that we’re making,” Kern said.

Shaw develops knack for making big catches in outfield

Senior right fielder Col-lin Shaw has a knack for the spectacular.

In the bottom of the sixth inning against UT last week, the Roadrunners threatened to score with two men on base when UTSA’s junior in-fielder Geonte Jackson sliced a ball into foul territory. Shaw raced down from his spot in right field. While trying to avoid his fellow teammates in foul territory, he looked down — and when he looked back up, he overran the ball. In a last-second effort, Shaw stretched his glove behind his right shoulder. He made the inning-ending catch while falling backwards.

This impressive catch appeared on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” Top 10 plays. However, it’s not the first time the 6-foot, 199 pound right fielder has made it on the pro-gram; he’s been there a couple

times before.“I think my favorite catch

I’ve made since I’ve been here was at OU last year,” Shaw said. “It was a big game. A big point in the season. But Tuesday was cool. They’re all fun. Any time we get an out is good.”

Last season at Oklahoma, Shaw made a diving catch where he had to dive straight back into right field, which was arguably more difficult than the one made against the Roadrunners, according to head coach Augie Garrido.

“I think it was even more difficult than [the one against UTSA],” Garrido said. “The ball was completely over his head, which makes it very difficult. He had to leave his feet and literally dive, not in a downward way. It was straight back, and he caught it.”

In his fourth year with the Longhorns, Shaw’s catching ability in right field is some-thing the team can count on. In fact, it’s the reason Garrido

has Shaw in right.Garrido said right field is

the most difficult position to play at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. When games begin at dusk, the sun’s shadow off of the stadium makes playing right a challenge. The size of the stadium makes it difficult to play in with the right field wall — 325 feet from home plate and 400 feet to center field. But Shaw hasn’t had much trouble playing right.

“He’s way above average in his skill sets,” Garrido said. “He’s fearless. He was a wide receiver in high school — a very good one — in football. Those skills, you’re seeing that right here. A lot of it is he’s just absolutely fearless. He’s tough.”

Alongside his fielding abili-ties, Shaw has had success at the plate. In high school, Shaw earned all-state second team honors during his season while batting .487 with seven home runs.

In his junior season with the

Longhorns, Shaw hit .264 and stole 13 bases in 61 games. Af-ter 10 games this season, he’s hitting .366 with 10 extra-base hits and 11 RBIs.

Boasting both fielding and batting ability, Shaw has be-come a team leader.

“He does everything right in the program,” Garrido said. “If he hits a ground ball, he

tries to beat it out — no mat-ter if it’s a sure out in most people’s minds. That’s what we ask him to do — run to be safe from home to first. He does things right. And that always provides leadership.”

Shaw and the Longhorns (8–2) begin a three-game se-ries against San Diego (2–6) Friday at 7:30 p.m.

SPORTS 7

7GARRETT CALLAHAN, SPORTS EDITOR | @texansportsFriday, February 27, 2015

BASEBALL

Texas faces Kansas with season on the line

By Nick Castillo@Nick_Castillo74

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Longhorns focus on defense, pitching in tourney

By Peter Sblendorio@tpetersblendorio

SOFTBALL

By Claire Cruz@claireecruz5

SIDELINENBA

WARRIORS

CAVALIERS

CANADIENS

BLUE JACKETS

This my new dance move I just don’t

know what to call it.

Quandre Diggs@qdiggs6

TOP TWEET

TODAY IN HISTORY

1987 The NCAA suspends SMU football from playing in the 1987 season. The “Death Penalty,” as it is known now, arose after SMU was found to have committed multiple violations of the NCAA rules preventing athletic corruption.

Coming off some rough losses, No. 35 Texas will try and prove itself against No. 10 Michigan this weekend in Ann Arbor.

Michigan (6–3) entered the top 10 after defeat-ing No. 6 Baylor last Fri-day, and the team is host-ing the Longhorns (2–3) on Saturday.

The leading lineup for the Wolverines showcases three nationally ranked singles captains of the team — se-niors No. 18 Emina Bektas (6–3) and No. 114 Sarah Lee (4–4) and junior No. 21 Ronit Yurovsky (6–0).

For the Longhorns, No. 47 junior Breaunna Ad-dison is the sole player who is ranked nationally for singles, but she com-pletes a duo with freshman Ryann Foster in doubles that is ranked 27th on a national scale.

The trip will be a home-coming for Longhorns head coach Danielle Mc-Namara. McNamara com-peted for Michigan from 1997 to 2000 and left the school as a highly decorated player. She ranks ninth on Michigan’s list of all-time wins with 80 victories and was the first player in the team’s history to play in all three national championship events.

Texas has wins over De-Paul and Rice so far this season but has fallen flat on road games. Texas suffered a 7–0 loss against No. 12 USC in their last game and will need to start gaining wins if they want to contend in Big 12 play this year. Texas’ first conference game will be another road game against Oklahoma on March 13.

—Reanna Zuniga

WEEKEND PREVIEW

Daulton Venglar | Daily Texan Staff Freshman pitcher Erica Wright leads the Longhorns with a 1.89 ERA. The rest of the pitching staff has combined for a 3.14 ERA, which is a focus for Texas this weekend.

NHL

NCAASMU

MEMPHIS

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Daulton Venglar | Daily Texan Staff Junior forward Connor Lammert and Texas controlled most of the game against Kansas on Jan. 24, but ultimately fell short. Since then, the Longhorns have nearly fallen out of the NCAA tournament picture.

Daulton Venglar | Daily Texan Staff Senior right fielder Collin Shaw has been a steady hand for the Longhorns in the outfield, posting a .988 career fielding percentage.

As Black History Month comes to a close, music fans across all genres should take time to recognize four African-American art-ists that changed music for generations.

Robert Johnson’s record-ings display a combination of vocal skill, guitar mastery and songwriting that in-fluenced today’s blues and rock ’n’ roll.

Johnson, who is rumored to have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his gui-tar skills, only recorded 29 songs over the course of his nine-year career. The cause of his death in 1938 at age 27 is still unresolved; theories of murder and poisoning re-main to this day.

After Johnson’s record-ings were re-released in 1961, his work became renowned. Muddy Waters, the Roll-ing Stones and Eric Clapton, have all cited Johnson as one of their main influences and have covered many of his songs.

Musicology assistant pro-fessor Charles Carson said Johnson used subtle inflec-tions to convey powerful

emotion in his music.“[Johnson’s] expression —

the way in which he used a small amount of notes to say a lot of stuff — that kind of economy is prized in blues,” Carson said.

Ella Fitzgerald was a jazz vocalist known for her diction, phrasing and scat singing.

“Fitzgerald was one of the people that cultivated that talent — to think about

the voice as an instrument,” Carson said.

Although Fitzgerald be-came an international sensa-tion, discrimination against African-American musicians was prominent when she be-gan her career. Her “clean” image helped her to partially transcend these barriers. Fitzgerald was the first black woman to perform at the Co-pacabana, a famous New York City nightclub.

“She really represented an important continuum of not only blackness, but also black femininity,” Carson said.

Fitzgerald was bold enough to put her work into the pub-lic domain — uncommon for African-American musi-cians of the time. Her impact on jazz music remains to this day.

Marvin Gaye helped shape the sound of Motown

and soul music in a way that will resonate for decades to come.

“Marvin’s style is sort of situated at this midpoint be-tween a lot of traditions,” Carson said. “Obviously, the gospel tradition, also soul and R&B, but also jazz. Ev-erything he did was on such a high level.”

In the early 1970s, Gaye switched the direction of his career. He began writing all

of his own music, resulting in the concept album “What’s Going On.”

As he gained popularity, Gaye became a figurehead for African-Americans in music. He signed the largest contract for an African-American mu-sician at the time. Gaye’s com-mentary on the world helped transform soul music into an agent for social change.

8 L&A

KAT SAMPSON, LIFE&ARTS EDITOR | @thedailytexan 8Friday, February 27, 2015

WORLD

Student raises funds to improve Zambian school

When government fresh-man Austin Rodriguez trav-eled to Africa over the sum-mer for mission work, he spent four days in an impov-erished Zambian compound eating nothing but cabbage, beans and rice. He noticed the trash that littered the ground. He saw the community lacked a plumbing system and had little electricity. But what res-onated with Austin most was the school.

At Nzelu Academy, a single chalkboard hung on the wall. Holes spotted the ceiling of the concrete building. Some children sat on the few desks that filled the space. The rest found a place on the dirt floor.

“I walked in, and it was just terrible,” Austin said. “I couldn’t get over how most of the kids don’t re-ally have a chance. They’re going to grow up with a bad education.”

Most of the kids attending school were orphaned, Aus-tin said. Students didn’t have pens or paper to take notes. The teachers worked month-by-month on a volunteer ba-sis and only got paid if people in the community could afford it.

When his time in Zambia came to an end, Austin didn’t want his involvement with the school to be over. With the help of his mom, Kellie Rodriguez, and other family members, and, after months of planning, Austin held a 5K fundraiser in his hometown of Fredericksburg, Texas, on

Saturday. His plan is to use the money to form a nonprofit organization to improve Nze-lu Academy. With the help of about 120 participants, they raised $4,000.

Money will go towards funding things such as reno-vations, teacher salaries, school supplies and lunches.

“Growing up with what he has — I think it hurt him see-ing kids who grew up having nothing,” Kellie said.

Austin never would have traveled to Zambia or seen

the school if he hadn’t attend-ed summer camp in 2013. After talking to a speaker at the camp about his hope to one day explore the world, the speaker gave Austin the email address of John Ju-die, a priest in Louisville, Kentucky, who travels an-nually to Africa. Judie is the founder of the nonprofit or-ganization Father John Judie Ministries, which sponsors seminaries, improves health-care and helps young people access education in eastern

African countries.A year later, Austin was sit-

ting on a plane next to him headed to Zambia.

“I’d always wanted to go to Africa to do mission work or something,” Austin said. “I didn’t go there with any actual plan. I just went.”

While in Africa, Austin accompanied Judie as he preached in different villages. They brought materials such as soap and clothes to places in Tanzania and Zambia.

Judie continues to play a

role in Austin’s involvement with the Zambian school. He assisted with the 5K fund-raiser and plans to link Austin with building designers and electricians in Zambia who can improve the school most efficiently.

“We want to make sure the job is done right,” Judie said. “We need someone who is on-site there that we can rely on and can inform us of what we need to do.”

Austin said he hopes to re-turn to Zambia this summer.

He plans to make the 5K in his hometown an annual event to keep raising money for the Nzelu Academy. Although the timeline for improving the school is not set in stone, Judie said he is confident ev-erything is falling into place.

“I think it’s so important to let anyone and everyone know how deeply grateful we are for the support they give,” Judie said. “Austin has so much going on but is will-ing to take this on. That’s very significant to me.”

By Marisa Charpentier@marisacharp21

MUSICIANS page 5

FILM

MUSIC

Black artists drive musical evolution across genres

Courtsesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures

Solomon (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is threatened at knife-point by his cruel master (Michael Fassbender) in “12 Years a Slave.”

Illustration by Lindsay Rojas | Daily Texan Staff

By Chris Duncan@chr_dunc

As Black History Month draws to a close, The Daily Texan compiled a list of no-table films that commemo-rate black history from a va-riety of perspectives — and offer important lessons for the future.

The Color Purple“The Color Purple,” di-

rected by Steven Spielberg, is an emotional drama that features an incredible debut performance from Whoopi

Goldberg. Goldberg plays Celie, an African-American woman abused by her cruel and much older husband (Danny Glover). Follow-ing the course of Celie’s life, “The Color Purple” explores the intersection of oppression of women and black people in the early 1900s.

“The Color Purple” pro-vides a compelling view of African-American hard-ship from a female perspec-tive and affirms that famil-ial bonds transcend both distance and time.

12 Years a Slave“12 Years a Slave” tells the

harrowing true story of Solo-mon Northup (Chiwetel Ejio-for), a free black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841.

“12 Years” benefits from Ejiofor’s soulful performance and Michael Fassbender’s ruthless portrayal as Solo-mon’s tyrannical master. Di-rected by Steve McQueen, “12 Years” doesn’t shy away from discomforting im-ages of violence, forcing the

By Charles Liu@CharlieInDaHaus

MOVIES page 5

Carlo NasisseDaily Texan Staff

After spend-ing a summer doing mission work in Zambia and Tanzania, government freshman Aus-tin Rodriguez started a 5k run in Freder-icksburg, Texas, to raise funds for a Zambian school. The 5k took place this past Saturday and raised about $4,000.

Five powerful movies that honor black history